The present invention relates generally to graphical user interfaces for computer systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for interfacing users with applications which provide for greater flexibility in the operation of both applications and user interfaces, specifically situations involving graphical user interfaces including overlapping windows.
The evolution of the computer industry is unparalleled in its rate of growth and complexity. Personal computers, for example, which began as little more than feeble calculators with limited memory, tape-driven input and monochrome displays are now able to tackle almost any data processing task. While this meteoric increase in power was almost sufficient to satisfy the demand of application designers and end users alike, the corresponding increase in complexity created an ease-of-use problem which the industry was somewhat slower in solving. Thus, designers were faced with a new challenge: to harness this computing power in a form usable by even those with relatively little computer training to smooth the transition of other industries into a computer-based information paradigm.
As a result, in the early to mid-1980's many new I/O philosophies, such as “user friendly”, “WYSIWYG” and “menu driven” came to the forefront of the industry. These concepts are particularly applicable to microcomputers, also known as personal computers, which are intended to appeal to a broad audience of computer users, including those who previously feared and mistrusted computers. An important aspect of computers which employ these concepts was, and continues to be, the interface which allows the user to input commands and data and receive results, which is commonly referred to as a graphical user interface (GUI).
The success of this type of interface is evident from the number of companies which have emulated the desktop environment. Even successful concepts, however, must continually be improved in order to keep pace with the rapid growth in this industry. The advent of multimedia, especially CD-ROM devices, has provided vast quantities of secondary storage which have been used to provide video capabilities, e.g., live animation and video clips, as regular components of application displays. With these and other new resources at their disposal, application designers and users alike, demand additional functionality and greater ease of use from the desktop environment.
To consider the challenges associated with continuing GUI design, consider as an example of a GUI which has evolved over time the Finder™ user interface and information management system (simply “Finder™ user interface” hereafter) which runs on the Apple Macintosh™ computer. The Finder™ user interface is based on the aforedescribed display principles using “windows” and “icons” to help manage computer information. The main or root window is called the “desktop” area, or more generally the primary display region. The desktop, or primary display region, is always open (displayed on the screen with its contents accessible or at least partially accessible), and takes up substantially the full display screen area when other windows are not open. The desktop is usually visible in the background when other windows are open.
Existing inside any particular window, including the desktop itself, are other information identifiers called “icons.” An icon is a screen identifier associated with a particular collection of computer information. Typically an icon may represent a “file” which is either a collection of data or a program or program segment. An icon also may represent the closed state of a window. Icons are graphic images displayed on the computer screen and usually correspond to the type of information stored within the file. Icons give the user access to the particular file represented by the graphic image when the icon is visible. The use of icons and windows is well known in the art.
The “file” is the information packet that the user wishes to utilize, create or modify; each particular file has an associated name identifying the file. Therefore, any given file may be located in the information management system by knowing a file name, an iconographic representation associated with the name, or a window locator name. All information (files) situated within a particular window are identified with that particular window's own identification location within the computer information management system. Therefore, any particular file information can be retrieved knowing its particular identification name and its window name. Accordingly, the resulting screen display utilizing the Finder™ user interface may be broken down into multiple windows and graphic icons.
Another important element of this (and other) conventional user interfaces is a screen cursor. The cursor allows direct user control over the user interface as described above. The Finder™ user interface is complemented with a “mouse” and a corresponding “pointer” which makes up the cursor control device. The user has control over the mouse, which is an electro-mechanical device that translates two-dimensional mouse movement into a two-dimensional screen position movement represented by, for example, a pointer or arrowhead. The user contacts and directs the mouse. When the mouse is moved freely on a table top, then the pointer on the screen will move in a similar and proportional manner. The mouse also contains one or more push buttons which can be used to effectuate control over the cursor pointer by selecting or deselecting specific icons or other display tools. It is said that the cursor pointer is “activated” when the mouse button is depressed and the pointer remains active until the button is released. Pointer activation may also be initiated by sequences of mouse button presses, such as a “double click” interaction which involves rapidly pressing the mouse button press twice in sequence.
Access to information in a conventional user interface system for a display management system is therefore based on windows, icons and pointer movement of the cursor. To access a file, the cursor pointer is placed on the visible icon or visible file name and the pointer is activated. A closed window may be represented by an icon or a window name. A window opens when the pointer of the cursor rests on the visible icon or visible name representing the closed state of the window and the pointer is activated. Within the open window, files may be displayed by icon or by name. An open window, of various geometries, may be rectangular and will exist within the display area of the main viewing screen on the desktop. Multiple windows may be open at one time, typically with the most foreground window corresponding to the most recently opened window and the background windows representing those opened previously. In the organization scheme described, it is appreciated that files are nested within windows and windows can be nested within other windows; the main or root window being the desktop area, or primary display region.
During a session using a window-based information system, many windows can be open at one time with many displayed icons within. Windows may overlap and partially, or entirely, hide other windows or icons. What results is that the particular information the user wants to obtain may be hidden behind several layers of windows and may be difficult to access; when an icon is hidden by another window it is temporarily not accessible. This has been referred to in the industry as the “window overlap” problem. There are several instances where window overlap problems routinely arise in the usage of conventional user interfaces. For the purposes of this particular invention, a window overlap problem of particular interest involves floating windows which provide feedback information to a user regarding a particular operation or application.
Those familiar with computers having graphical user interfaces will recognize the floating window as a useful, yet sometimes annoying phenomenon. Consider, for example, the floating window 10 illustrated in FIG. 1 which provides feedback for a speech recognition program. More specifically, the floating window 10 overlays existing windows, e.g., document window 14, to provide the user with feedback regarding whether a sound has been heard and whether an utterance has been recognized by the speech recognition program. However, the floating window 10 only provides useful information when the user is actively engaged in issuing speech commands and, therefore, only conveys relevant information to the user during relatively short intervals. Nonetheless, floating window 10 remains on the desktop as long as the speech recognition program is active, often obscuring documents or other underlying windows. When the floating window 10 obscures such underlying windows, the user can neither view nor interact with the contents thereof.
Thus, it can be seen that there remains a need in the art to design a GUI which permits a user to receive the useful information provided by floating windows while at the same time providing greater availability to the user of the underlying windows' content.